Where The Lines Blur
by SlenderXLover
Summary: Oliver's in High School. He can tell that it's going to be a terrible year. Until a new girl Alyce comes into the picture... LANA WINTERS IS NOT INVOLVED IN THIS STORY AND WON'T BE. EVER.
1. Chapter 1

_Day one of Hell_, Oliver Thredson thought to himself, scowling. He was walking to school in freshly pressed, itchy corduroys, an uncomfortably tight button down shirt, and loafers that pinched his toes whenever he walked.

_I hate this place, I hate this place, I hate this place so fucking much._ Oliver couldn't wait until he finally escaped the wretched, god-forsaken hell that was given the innocent name of 'High School'.

He was almost done with school. One more year and he would be free.

Free of the choking hold of stupidity, free of his cold foster parents, free of his tainted shell. He would go to Stanford, or Harvard, or maybe Berkeley.

Anywhere would be better than here.

As he walked into the school building, he heard the all too familiar taunts.

_Nice glasses, spaz._

_I think my grandfather wants his clothes back._

_Is the psycho back again? _

He tripped over one of his bully's feet and tumbled forward, almost landing face-first on the ground. His papers and books were haphazardly strewn about the floors as he saw the faces of his tormentors laughing at him. He glared at all of them before he saw an unfamiliar girl picking up his papers and books.

She had long dark hair and tan, warm skin. Her eyes were large and dark. She smiled at him and handed him his school supplies.

He flushed and took them from her, walking in the other direction as fast as possible.

He got to his first class, AP Physics, before any of his other future class mates. He set down his 5-year old messenger bag on a desk and placed his books inside of the desk.

The teacher looked at him, undoubtedly judging him by his thick, tortoiseshell glasses and his old, worn clothes.

Oliver sat down and tried to avoid any eye contact with the students coming into the classroom.

"Pick whatever seats you would like. I trust you all to make good decisions," the teacher said, his voice slightly raspy.

Oliver hoped someone may choose him to sit next to, but no one did.

8:29

_One more minute until this school officially starts._

All of a sudden, a girl came rushing through the door as the final bell rung. She seemed disheveled and she was breathing heavily. She plopped down right next to Oliver.

To his surprise, it was the exact girl who had picked up his things in the hallway for him.

The teacher cleared his throat and introduced himself as Mr. Thompson.

He seemed like an alright guy to Oliver. He was smart, kind, and eager to get to know his students.

He gave them all a syllabus and told them what kind of experiments they would do throughout the year, how many tests there would be, and how much homework they would get.

Finally, the end of the class came, and Oliver rushed off to his next class, Calculus.

The girl with the dark hair seemed to be following him, which made Oliver extremely uneasy. Just as he was about to snap at her, she walked into Room 509. Calculus.

It seemed as though he would get the divine pleasure of being in yet another class with her.

In this class, they had seating arrangements.

_Great. It's as though I'm in grade school again._ Oliver thought bitterly as he found himself sitting next to the mystery girl again.

"What's your name?" she asked him, as he fidgeted in his seat.

"Oliver," he muttered, turning his attention to anywhere but her.

"That's a nice name! My name is Alyce," she told him. Her hair was soft and shiny looking. And she smelt really good.

He breathed in air slowly, as to not alert her that he was smelling her, and smelled strawberries and a more musky scent.

"So," she spoke again, feeling a bit awkward at his lack of response. "What do you like to do?"

"I like to read," he said softly. He wasn't quite used to people just coming up and talking to him. It was odd.

"Cool! What do you like to read?"

"Um, different things. I liked 1984 and Animal Farm."

"Those books were good," she agreed, smiling softly. Oliver couldn't help but think that the soft curve of her lips was absolutely beautiful. He quickly shook that thought out of his head.

He didn't have time for stupid, mind-clouding thoughts like those.

"Uh, yeah. I like satirical writings," he stuttered. She smiled again, her eyes were so dark and pretty…

He looked at the board, trying not to think about her. Or her long hair. Or her cupid's bow lips.

She seemed to realize that he didn't want to talk to her and so she turned her attention to anywhere but him.

Oliver felt slightly guilty. He shouldn't have made her feel so unwanted. It was very rude of him, especially after what she did to help him this morning.

He didn't quite know what to do, and all too soon, it was time to go to Anatomy.

She wasn't in that class. It felt like something was missing.

* * *

><p>At lunchtime, he didn't have anyone to sit with and he didn't have anything to eat. Per usual.<p>

Alyce was sitting alone, too, but he knew he would be intruding on her privacy if he were to go and sit with her, especially after how rude he was to her this morning.

Oh, but how he did want to go talk to her, to apologize at least. He cursed himself for not having the courage to get up and talk to Alyce.

She was just so pretty and sweet, he knew the possibility was high for her to ridicule him after him blatantly ignoring her during Calculus.

Still, he found his legs moving towards her place at the table.

She looked up at him with one dark brown eyebrow raised.

"Hello Oliver," she greeted him.

"H-hi Alyce. I um, I just wanted to apologize for my behavior this morning. I had a lot on my mind," he explained. She just nodded and took another bite out of her sandwich. Oliver stood there, twiddling his thumbs as other people began to notice him standing in front of the small girl.

Bobby, the school's resident bully scoffed at Oliver.

"Hey, cutie, this freak bothering you?" he jeered.

"No, we were just talking, thank you," she responded primly. Bobby narrowed his eyes and walked away to his table in the middle of the cafeteria.

"May I sit with you?" Oliver asked Alyce. She nodded slightly and he walked around to sit next to her.

"Where's your lunch?" Alyce asked. He didn't want to admit that he didn't have money to buy food and that his foster home only fed him dinner and occasionally breakfast.

"I forgot it at home," he lied. Alyce tore off half of her sandwich and set it in front of Oliver. "Oh, no thanks, I'll be fine," he said.

"Just eat it, it'll be good for you," she responded.

He reluctantly took the sandwich and bit into it. It was one of the best sandwiches he'd eaten in a long, long time. He closed his eyes and savored the taste. She giggled softly.

"I made it myself! You like it?" she asked.

Oliver nodded and continued to eat the sandwich. Alyce smiled proudly and polished off her half.

"What class do you have next?" she asked him. He swallowed the rest of the sandwich and answered,

"Psychology."

"No way! Me too!" she exclaimed. He smirked.

"Good luck, Psychology is my _best_ subject," he gloated.

"How peculiar! It's my best as well," she smirked, a slight gleam in her eye. It seemed like a challenge to Oliver. He accepted the challenge with gusto.

He was going to show her just how great he really was.


	2. Chapter 2

When Psychology class came around, Oliver felt more than a bit of competition with Alyce.

To his surprise, she was good. She was too good, actually.

She was able to answer all of the teacher's questions. As was he! He answered quite a few questions, in fact.

She knew far too much about Sigmund Freud and the Oedipus Complex.

But he also knew much about Harlow's Experiments, able to provide ample detail on his 'Pit of Despair'.

Whenever Alyce would answer a question correctly, she would look at him and smile smugly.

_Brat._

He effectively showed her up by thoroughly explaining to the teacher all that he knew on 'The Monster Study' and its information on stuttering.

She shot back quickly with the Capgras Delusion.

They both went back and forth until the bell rang. The teacher look extremely flustered by all they knew.

Oliver shot a glare towards Alyce for getting the last word in before the bell rang. She smirked at him. He wanted to take that smirk off of her mouth. In any means possible.

Oliver went to Sociology and Alyce went to a Greek Mythology class, leaving him to think about Alyce. And vice versa.

* * *

><p>They saw each other again in Biology. They sat together again as neither one of them had anyone to sit with.<p>

Both were extremely bored in the class, either because of the simple subject matter, or the teacher's droning, monotonous voice.

Alyce stole a glance or two at Oliver when he wasn't paying attention, and he stared at her when she was looking away from him. They both sat in awkward silence, looking at one another when they were sure they wouldn't be found out.

Finally, the bell rang. Oliver nearly sprinted out of the classroom. It would take a long time to walk home, and he had chores and homework to do.

He decided to cut through the woods and stop by his childhood tree. He used to climb it all the time when he was younger.

Oliver took off his thick glasses and cleaned them on his shirt.

He resumed walking, and just when he got back onto the road to take a shortcut, it began to thunder and rain.

_Fucking perfect._

The rain started out gentle, but soon, it was coming down hard. Oliver readjusted his messenger bag and ducked his head before braving the storm.

Cars were going by with his classmates driving.

_Lucky bastards._

Not one of them offered to let him out of the rain.

He wished it didn't take so long to walk home. It had been about 20 minutes of him walking, and it would be about half an hour before he got home. He sighed and shook some of the water out of his hair, although it did no good.

A Chevrolet rolled past him before backing up to stroll along next to him.

_Great. Now I get to be made fun of outside of school,_ Oliver thought, bitterly.

"Hey! Do you need a ride?"

He squinted at the unknown driver. It looked like Alyce!

He nodded and the car stopped for him to climb in. He put his bag on the ground and slid into the car.

Alyce turned on the heat.

"Where do you live?" She asked."

"1800 Forrest Avenue," he answered. He inwardly swore at himself. Now she was going to see the terrible house he grew up in.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

They finally arrived at his house and his cheeks were burning with embarrassment. He lived in a one-story pig-sty with greedy foster parents and an abusive foster brother.

"I'll walk you up," Alyce said, opening her door. Oliver's mind raced. He didn't want to be rude to her, but he also didn't want her to see the deplorable state his home was in.

She walked around to his side and walked to the front door with him. When he approached the front steps, the door swung open, startling Alyce. It was his foster brother; he was drunk, as usual.

"Hey, bastard, you finally home? Do you got a girlfriend? What's the broad's name? Is she a good lay?" he slurred, the stench of whiskey permeating his person.

"I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use such language in front of a woman," he retorted, his nose wrinkling at the pig in front of him. Alyce seemed a bit scared, or shocked; maybe both.

"I would appreciate it if you would shut the fuck up," his foster brother, Phil spat. Oliver and Alyce watched as Phil stumbled to the couch and passed out on it.

Oliver didn't know what to say to Alyce. He wasn't sure if she would even want to speak to him again. Surely, she would go to school and tell everyone of the disgusting state his family life was in.

He turned to face her. She seemed shocked, her eyes wide, brows crinkled.

"I-" Oliver tried to say something, but she cut him off.

"Do you like staying here?" she asked, an eyebrow raised. Her question caught him off guard.

"N-no, not exactly," he responded.

"Do your parents hurt you?" She asked. He blinked in surprise. _What was with all the questions?_

"Um, s-sometimes, but not too badly," he stuttered. She nodded, almost understandingly.

"Do you want to stay at my house? We have enough room, and I'm sure my daddy won't mind," she offered. He felt shocked. He just met this girl today, and already she was offering him a place to stay? Was there something wrong with her?

"I, uh, don't think your parents will want me at your house, especially not your father," he explained. She seemed almost insulted.

"He won't have a problem with it! And if he does, he can deal with it."

"I don't think my parents would like that," he told her.

"How old are you?" she asked.

"Seventeen," he responded. _One more year and I'm finally out of the System._

"Oh. I'm sure since you're almost of age, they wouldn't mind," she said. He shrugged. They didn't give two shits about him anyways, so why would they care if he stayed with someone?

"I'll just leave a note telling them where I'll be. They probably won't care, though."

He seemed to have a friend.

He seemed to have someone who actually cares about him.

It felt nice.


	3. Chapter 3

As he suspected, Alyce lived in a nice house. She lived in a _really_ nice house.

_Of course she's rich,_ Oliver thought bitterly. _Her parents can afford to buy her a brand new car; why wouldn't they be able to afford this?_

Alyce's home was a three story, Usonian beauty. Oliver felt a familiar twinge of jealousy. Sure, Alyce was nice. She was sweet, and his only friend, but he instantly found himself wishing to be in her place.

Alyce parked the car in her family's driveway before taking the keys out of the ignition and getting out of the car.

"Hey, you coming?" she called out to Oliver. He felt his cheeks flush. He didn't realize that he'd been sitting in her car for a while. He quickly grabbed his schoolbag and a tote with his clothes before following Alyce into the house.

She opened the door, allowing him to walk in first.

"Mom! I'm home," she called out. "She's probably in the kitchen making snacks. Are you hungry?"

Oliver barely registered that she had even spoken. He was in absolute awe. The marble floors were beautiful, the walls had intricate drawings etched into them, and the house smelled of fresh air and cookies, a far cry from the usual stench of urine and whiskey.

Alyce tugged on his arm to get him to follow her into the kitchen.

"Hey mom! I've brought over a friend. I hope you don't mind," she told her mother. Alyce's mom was slim and pretty. She had green eyes and russet-coloured hair.

_Alyce must have gotten her looks from her father, _Oliver surmised.

"Hello, young lad! I see my daughter has made a friend!" she beamed at him. He smiled.

"It seems so! My name is Oliver," he introduced himself.

"Paula," she said, gesturing towards herself. "My husband, Thomas, should be home from work at any moment. I'm cooking spaghetti for dinner. Is that alright with you, Oliver?"

"Yes, ma'am! It's my favourite," he said, meekly, a bit ashamed of his sudden outburst. Paula laughed, amused.

"I'm glad!"

Oliver looked over at Alyce, she was grinning happily at him, joyed to see that her mother liked him.

"Hey mom, can I talk to you for a second?" Alyce asked.

"Of course, honey! We'll be right back, Oliver," Paula smiled.

Alyce took her mother into the living room and explained what was going on with Oliver and his foster family. Paula was saddened at the thought of such a terrible family.

"We may need to call his foster home, though. They may not know where he is and we could get in quite a bit of trouble," she explained to her daughter.

"Oh, no it's okay! I told Oliver to write down our phone number on a piece of paper. I don't think they'll call," she answered. Her mom was appeased and they joined Oliver in the kitchen.

"Do you know how long you would like to stay, Oliver?" Paula asked.

He honestly wasn't sure. He should probably only stay for a night or two; he didn't want to anger his foster parents.

"A night will be fine, Missus," he replied.

"Alright. I hope you know that you'll be welcome at any time," she smiled. Oliver was in shock. He had never met anyone so nice and accepting of him. Most people judged his second-hand clothes. Paula was accepting of him. Now he knew why Alyce was so accepting of different people; she was taught to be kind.

* * *

><p>Hopefully her father was just as accepting…<p>

Alyce had an extremely intimidating father.

That was the first thing Oliver took note of.

The second was that he was extremely protective of his daughter.

He gave Oliver the death glare as Oliver held out his hand for Alyce's father to shake.

His handshake was also pretty firm. Oliver winced.

"So, how'd you meet my little girl?" he questioned.

"Um, well, she helped me pick my things back up when I tripped," he explained. Her father raised an eyebrow and nodded slightly.

"How long are you staying here?" he asked. Oliver swallowed nervously. He wasn't too sure he liked Alyce's dad…

"She invited me for the night, sir," he answered, looking down at the plate of food on the table. This was almost as bad as being around his asshole foster brother.

"Hm, alright then; what's your name, son?" He stared Oliver down. His eyes were an eerie shade of blue; it made Oliver even more uncomfortable.

"My name is Oliver Thredson, sir," he tried answering confidently. It didn't really work. Being louder wasn't quite the same as being more confident, it seemed.

"Just call me David, Oliver," Alyce's father smiled at him for the first time. Oliver was extremely confused. "You seem like a good kid. I can tell my daughter enjoys your company. Hopefully not too much," he said, sending Oliver a warning glare.

"Oh, no sir! She's a good friend," he nervously explained. David nodded and began eating, signalling to everybody else to begin as well.

It was the best spaghetti Oliver ever had.

* * *

><p>To his delight, Oliver found that Alyce enjoyed drawing and playing music. She had a piano in her bedroom as well as countless filled sketchbooks. Oliver opened one filled with cartoon-ish characters.<p>

Alyce had explained that she would love to create comic strips for the newspapers.

The more he got to know Alyce, the more he began to open up himself.

He revealed to her that he used to be in band in middle school after years of saving up from the money that the Childs' Protective Service allotted him each month. He had saved up for years, originally thinking about putting his money towards contacts. He figured perhaps the kids at school would stop bullying him so much if he got rid of the cursed frames marring his face.

"No, I like your glasses," Alyce protested when he told her that he wanted contacts. She scooted over to him, tracing along the metallic rims of his glasses. " I like the way you look. You look like a doctor," she giggled.

Oliver felt his cheeks flush. No one had ever complimented him before her. She made him feel at least a little bit better about his looks.

"Uh, thanks. I like your hair?" he offered awkwardly. He never was very good at complimenting anyone.

Especially girls.

Still, Alyce smiled widely and hugged him. He was a bit caught off guard. No one had ever hugged him before.

_Touch spoils the child_.

Well, if so, he was having a wonderful time being spoiled.


End file.
